How many of today’s fliers recall People Express, the 1980s media darling that brought cheap flying to the masses—only to flame out spectacularly before the decade was over? Some airline executives bet that plenty do, enough to justify reviving the brand, with a new People Express set to take flight June 30 from its base in Newport News, Virginia. Tickets went on sale this week, starting at $59 one-way to Pittsburgh and $76 to Boston and Newark (home of the original People’s); three more cities will be added to the route map by summer’s end (check flypex.com for updates).

But while it bears a superficial resemblance to its namesake, with the PEOPLExpress logo and distinctive tailfin squiggle splashed on its fleet of three 737-400s, People Express 2 has a tough road ahead—so says Don Burr, the messianic founder of the original line, whose early success landed him on the cover of Time. Burr, who spoke to us from his home in New Hampshire, said he’s not involved in the new company, although several of his former employees are. “I don’t have any really powerful feelings about that,” he says. “I’m not terribly miffed or emotional about the use of the trademark.”

“Would I rather do it myself? Sure, but I can’t be 30 anymore,” he adds. (Burr, who was in his thirties when he conceived of People Express, is now 73 and retired.) But if it was tough for a newcomer to succeed 30 years ago, it’s even harder now, he says. “In the end, it’s all about execution and that’s very difficult in this environment.” For one thing, fuel costs have skyrocketed, jeopardizing the low-cost airline model, and after a spate of crashes in the mid-1990s, the federal government tightened its requirements for new entrants. Burr confesses he tried himself to revive People Express about 20 years ago as a smaller domestic line based at JFK Airport, but gave up when the climate for new airlines soured. Indeed, the latest incarnation of People has already struggled to get adequate funding and government approval in its own right. It’s flying under an arrangement with Las Vegas-based Vision Airlines, primarily a charter operator that provides the planes and crews. Jeffrey Erickson, former chief of both TWA and Reno Air, will run the show as its chief executive.

It’s unlikely the new People will grow at the breakneck pace that doomed the old one, which at one point was the fastest-growing company in the country. What made the original People unique, Burr says, were its unusual corporate culture (employees shared jobs to the point where pilots could be seen checking bags, helping to lower costs) and its unbundled fares. “We were the first to do it,” he says, though that might be a dubious honor given the unpopularity of said fees. But then again, times have changed: “So you paid 50 cents for a cup of coffee and $3 to check a bag…but we didn’t try to make money on the ancillary stuff. We just tried to cover our costs. And nobody complained about it when they were going to Boston for $19.”

That 50-cent cup of joe will now go for $1 on the new People’s line, whose menu of fees are more in line with its rivals: $20 for the first bag, $25 for the second; $15 for advance seat assignments and $25 for lugging on a carry-on that can only fit in the overhead bin. Sodas will be $2, but snacks are free. There will also be a premium section with 12 “Living Large” seats that cost $59 extra.

People is not the only airline retread taking to the skies; a new Eastern Airlines has filed for authority at the Department of Transportation and has ordered ten 737-800s. Eastern has a much more storied past—it had been in business since the 1930s before it went bust in the early 1990s. But a recognizable name only goes so far. Pan Am was revived several times before flying off into aviation history. Business travel pundit Joe Brancatelli puts it more pithily on Twitter @joesentme: “Who thinks PeoplExpress has brand name equity left in the marketplace? Anyone?”